ON BEES AND HONEY. 163 



a handsome profit to the keeper, from the sale of their superflu- 

 ous honey. Not a life need be sacrificed, and the honey taken 

 will be considered but a fair rentage paid by the bees for the 

 use of a comfortable home and hive, a home and hive in 

 which, from its proper constructiou, they are equally protected 

 from the excessive heat of summer, (and therefore can work 

 the better, and without idlers piled upon the outside,) and from 

 the severe cold and varying temperature of winter- They 

 will also, by means of the chamber, be kept free from that 

 dampness and mould, Avhich, during the winter, causes the des- 

 truction of so many stocks. With such a hive, the Apiarian 

 may permit or prevent swarming, just as he pleases. 



We will now give the description and dimensions of a hive, 

 constructed with the above principles in view. Such a hive 

 was successfully used by the writer for very many years, in 

 the City of Salem. It is not patented, and no hive ever should 

 be, and the Committee are glad to know, that the granting of 

 patents on hives will meet very little encouragement at the 

 Patent Office in Washington. It is not wholly an original hive, 

 but its several points have been made up by careful examina- 

 tion of the descriptions of the best hives knoAvn here and in 

 England, by actual practice with a great variety of hives, and 

 by diligent study of what appeared to be capable of meeting 

 the wants and suiting the habits of the dwellers and workers 

 in hives. Any hive is a good one which is constrncted on the 

 principle of humanity to the honey bee, and your Committee 

 speak of this, not with the intention of saying, that it is " the 

 best that was ever made," to use a common phrase, but simply 

 to say that it is a good one, and will answer a satisfactory pur- 

 pose ; that it is not complicated nor costly, and can be easily 

 managed. They say to the bee-keepers of the County, ^'- save 

 your bees, by using such hives, as loill enable you to do so, and 

 at the same time, give you a fair percentage of their labor. ^' 



Many such hives are in use in our county. Mr. Perley King, of 

 Dan vers, Mr. Bod well, of Lawrence, Rev. G. B. Perry, of Grove- 

 land, and very many others, whose names do not occur to us, 

 use such hives, and we wish their use was universal. 



The hive we propose to describe consists of four parts, viz : 



